Aurich (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Auerk'', West Frisian: ''Auwerk'', ) is a town in the

East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...

n region of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich and is the second largest City in East Frisia, both in population, after

Emden Emden () is an Independent city (Germany), independent town and seaport in Lower Saxony in the north-west of Germany and lies on the River Ems (river), Ems, close to the Germany–Netherlands border, Netherlands border. It is the main town in t ...

, and in area, after Wittmund.

History

The history of Aurich dates back to the 13th century, when the settlement of ''Aurechove'' was mentioned in a

Frisia Frisia () is a Cross-border region, cross-border Cultural area, cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. Wider definitions of "Frisia" ...

n document called the '' Brokmerbrief'' in 1276. There are various hypotheses about the interpretation of the city name. It either refers to a person (Affo, East Frisian first name ) and his property (Reich) or it refers to waterworks on the fertile, water-rich lowland of the Aa (or Ehe) river, upon which the city was built; medieval realizations were Aurichove, Aurike, Aurikehove, Auerk, Auryke, Auwerckhove, Auwerick, Auwerck, Auwreke, Awerck, Awreke, Awrik, Auwerich and Aurickeshove . In 1517, Count Edzard from the House of

Cirksena The House of Cirksena was the ruling family of East Frisia (). They descended from a line of East Frisian chieftains from Greetsiel. East Frisia In 1439, in the wake of clashes between different lines of chieftains, the town of Emden was first ...

began rebuilding the town after an attack. In 1539, the land authorities were brought together in Aurich, making it the county capital and, later,

, remaining the seat of the land authorities when East Frisia was inherited by the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

in 1744. After the Prussian Army was defeated in the Battle of Jena in 1807, Aurich became part of the Kingdom of Holland in 1808. In 1810, the Kingdom of Holland was annexed by France and Aurich was made the capital of the department Ems-Oriental of the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

. After Napoleon was defeated in 1814, it passed to the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover () was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and j ...

in 1815, and then was annexed by Prussia in 1866 and made part of the

Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover () was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1866 to 1946. During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, alo ...

. From 21 October 1944, until 23 December 1944, a

Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

was established in Aurich. The camp was a subcamp to the

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and List of subcamps of Neuengamme, more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme, Hamburg, N ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Aurich became part of the new state of

Local council

The local council has 40 members The elections in September 2016 showed the following results * SPD: 13 seats * CDU: 11 seats *AWG 4 seats *Gemeinsam für Aurich (GfA), 4 seats * Alliance 90/The Greens 3 seats * The Left 2 seats *Grün-Alternative Politik (GAP)(Green alternative politics) 2 seats * FDP, 1 seat

Coat of arms

Aurich's coat of arms is drawn by the

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

: "Arms: Landscape with chief two-thirds sky and base third earth, a

shield A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry like spears or long ranged projectiles suc ...

Gules emblazoned with letter ' A' Or, an open-topped crown Or above, two growing

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s Vert at sides. Crown: A

battlement A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

Gules with three merlons and two embrasures. Supporters: Two

branch A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...

es of

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate parasite, obligate parasitic plant, hemiparasitic plants in the Order (biology), order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they ...

with

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

and

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

Or.". The coat of arms of the district with the same name is different.

Twin towns – sister cities

Aurich is twinned with: * Appingedam, Netherlands

Notable people

* Johan II of East Frisia (1538–1591), co-regent of the

County of East Frisia The County of East Frisia (; Frisian: ''Greefskip Eastfryslân''; Dutch: ''Graafschap Oost-Friesland'') was a county (though ruled by a prince after 1662) in the region of East Frisia in the northwest of the present-day German state of Lower S ...

. * Enno III, Count of East Frisia (1563–1625), Count of Ostfriesland from 1599 to 1625 * Liefmann Calmer (1711–1784), important personage in French Jewry of the eighteenth century * Johan Heinrich Becker (1715–1761), physician and chemist who settled in Norway. * Friedrich August Peter von Colomb (1775–1854),

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n general *

Rudolf von Jhering Caspar Rudolph Ritter von Jhering (; also Ihering; 22 August 1818 – 17 September 1892) was a German jurist. He is best known for his 1872 book ''Der Kampf ums Recht'' (''The Struggle for Law''), as a legal scholar, and as the founder of a mo ...

(1818–1892), jurist. * Friedrich Theodor von Frerichs (1819–1885), a pathologist * Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825–1895), lawyer, jurist, journalist, and writer * Hin Bredendieck (1904–1995), designer * Ellen Frank (1904–1999), a film and TV actress. * Laura Hillman (1923–2020), American writer and memoirist, and

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

survivor * Rudolf Eucken (1846–1926), philosopher, winner of the 1908 Nobel Prize for Literature. * Georg von Eucken-Addenhausen (1855–1942), jurist, politician and mayor of

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

. * Luise Dornemann (1901–1992), a women's rights activist-politician and later, a writer. * Karl Deichgräber (1903–1984), classical philologist * Yitzhak Raveh (1906–1989), Israeli judge * Aloys Wobben (1952–2021), engineer * Jan-Christian Dreesen (born 1967), chief financial officer of FC Bayern. * Uwe Rosenberg (born 1970), board game designer * Stefan Lampadius (born 1976), actor and filmmaker. * Frank Löning (born 1981), footballer who played 418 games * Paul Ronzheimer (born 1985), journalist and war correspondent

References

External links

* *Official German list of concentration camp
Record of the concentration camp and its sub-camps
{{Authority control Neuengamme concentration camp Aurich (district) Towns and villages in East Frisia